Judge rules nonprofit group must provide information on Jersey City mayor's controversial fundraiser

A Hudson County judge on Thursday ordered the release of information related to a controversial fundraiser for Mayor Jerramiah Healy that one of his opponents says led to “illegal” contributions to the mayor’s re-election campaign.

City Councilman Steve Fulop claims the nonprofit For New Jersey Families and the Healy campaign colluded to raise “illegal” campaign donations at a Feb. 27 fundraiser at the home of Pepe Garcia, brother of former Union City mayor Rudy Garcia. Fulop’s mayoral campaign filed a complaint against both the nonprofit and Healy’s campaign.

Judge Barry P. Sarkisian this week dismissed the complaint against Healy’s campaign, saying he had no jurisdiction over that matter. But the complaint against For New Jersey Families stands, and the nonprofit must fork over “limited” information regarding the fundraiser to Fulop’s campaign, Sarkisian ordered.

The two sides are due back in court in April.

Joseph A. Garcia, representing Fulop, classified Thursday’s hearing as a win for the Downtown councilman, who is challenging Healy in the May 14 city election. Garcia said Fulop’s campaign is looking for the names of donors who attended the fundraiser, information about who organized the event, and more.

“The goal here was to shine a light on what we think was illegal activity,” said Garcia, from Secaucus firm Chasan, Leyner and Lamparello.

That elicited a retort from Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne.

“Only Steve Fulop would see a dismissal of a nuisance lawsuit as a win,” Henne said.

An invitation to the Feb. 27 fundraiser urged supporters to donate to either “Team Healy 2013” or For New Jersey Families. The invite, which states it was paid for by the Healy campaign, stressed that donations to For New Jersey Families could be unlimited and do not violate pay-to-play laws.

Fulop pounced, noting that campaign laws prohibit outside groups like For New Jersey Families from working in tandem with political campaigns. Fulop is seeking a list of donors to the fundraiser, hosted by the Garcia brothers and principals of a lobbying firm that counts some city vendors as clients.

The day after the fundraiser, the Healy campaign said that it had no knowledge of any solicitations for New Jersey Families. Hours later, Henne said Healy would return any money from the fundraiser. The following day, Henne said the mayor never accepted any donations from the event.

Rudy Garcia, meanwhile, issued a statement last month taking responsibility for the invite, saying his office created it, not the Healy campaign.